Prison for man who helped place noose on civil rights statue

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 6:08 pm, Thursday, September 17, 2015

Photo: Bruce Newman, MBO

Image 1of/3

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 3

Former University of Mississippi student Graeme Phillip Harris, left, with his attorney David Hill, leaves federal court after being sentenced, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 in Oxford, Miss. Harris, a former University of Mississippi student who admitted helping place a noose on a statue of a civil rights activist is going to prison. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills sentenced Graeme Phillip Harris on Thursday to six months in prison beginning Jan. 4, followed by 12 months' supervised release. (Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle via AP) NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT less

Former University of Mississippi student Graeme Phillip Harris, left, with his attorney David Hill, leaves federal court after being sentenced, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 in Oxford, Miss. Harris, a former ... more

Photo: Bruce Newman, MBO

Image 2 of 3

Former University of Mississippi student Graeme Phillip Harris leaves federal court after being sentenced, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 in Oxford, Miss. Harris, a former University of Mississippi student who admitted helping place a noose on a statue of a civil rights activist is going to prison. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills sentenced Graeme Phillip Harris on Thursday to six months in prison beginning Jan. 4, followed by 12 months' supervised release. (Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle via AP) NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT less

Former University of Mississippi student Graeme Phillip Harris leaves federal court after being sentenced, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 in Oxford, Miss. Harris, a former University of Mississippi student who ... more

Photo: Bruce Newman, MBO

Image 3 of 3

FILE - This Monday, Feb. 17, 2014 file photo shows the James Meredith statue on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss. Graeme Phillip Harrispleaded guilty in June 2015 to a charge of using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students and employees at the university, in connection with a noose placed on a statue of integration pioneer James Meredith, in Oxford, Miss. U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills sentenced Harris on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, to six months in prison beginning Jan. 4, followed by 12 monthsâ supervised release. (Thomas Graning/The Daily Mississippian via AP, File) less

FILE - This Monday, Feb. 17, 2014 file photo shows the James Meredith statue on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss. Graeme Phillip Harrispleaded guilty in June 2015 to a charge of using a ... more

Photo: Thomas Graning, MBR

Prison for man who helped place noose on civil rights statue

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

JACKSON, Miss. - A former University of Mississippi student who admitted helping place a noose on a statue of a civil rights activist is going to prison.

Prosecutors say the Alpharetta, GA, resident and two other former students placed a noose and a former version of the Georgia state flag containing the Confederate battle emblem on the statue of James Meredith sometime before dawn on Feb. 16, 2014.

Davis Hill, Harris' lawyer,wrote that the seeds of racial bias were planted when Harris transferred to a Georgia high school seeking to play quarterback, only to have a black head coach pass over him for a black quarterback.

Harris faced up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Austin Reed Edenfield - who also took part in the vandalism, according to prosecutors and Mills - had been scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday to an unspecified crime. That hearing was postponed without explanation.